I understand that that how hard a class is going to be is probably more dependent on how your professor is than anything else. I’m just wondering if a student would have a much harder time taking the same kind of class-load at prestigious UC verses at a CSU or if say a three unit world civilization class is going to be of a pretty similar difficulty no matter where you take it just depending on the professor.
The differences will depend on which campus and which programs. I don’t think you’ll find the nursing curriculum at SDSU any lighter than any of the UCs with that program. Same thing with engineering at CalPoly SLO (although you will find differences in approach and philosophy).
Among the less competitive CSUs in subjects like world civilization you might see less strict grading or less workload, reflecting the reality of the differences between students at good state universities (who are often commuters with jobs helping to support their families) vs students at the top tier UCs where virtually all admitted students excel academically and it is assumed that being a student is their full time job.
It does depend on the school and course. The books and course content are pretty consistent. Few CSUs use grad students in lecture/lab roles and there aren’t many massive lecture halls. That makes the teacher a lot more accessible for questions, etc. What’s probably more pronounced is the difference in the students sitting on either side of you. In my experience, students at the more competitive UCs are wound pretty tight and are pretty competitive day to day. You get a more collegial and collaborative student body in most programs at most of the CSUs.
That may be dependent on major and other goals. Students in competitive areas (e.g. pre-med, pre-law, or undeclared trying to get into highly competitive majors) are probably more this way than those who are not in these areas.